Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. [Cheering] [Music] Got a fantasy question, email fantasy
[email protected] Get ready to win your league. [Music] Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Stop the presses, we had a trade. That's not what we're leaving to show off with. It was not a stop the presses, kind of trade. Not a stop the press is kind of trade. The trade deadline is looming though, and we had a trade. We had Cam Schlippler showing something new and Christian Scott's looking pretty interesting. I am Chris. That is Scott White. Chris Towers is me. We are Fantasy Baseball Today. This is not the best intro in Fantasy Baseball Today history. But who cares? Because we got a bunch of baseball to talk about and even some interesting things happened on Wednesday. And we're going to start off with the players of the night brought to you by StitchFix. If you're like me in close shopping just isn't your thing. StitchFix has you covered. Get $20 off your first order at StitchFix.com/baseball. And let's see we're going to go with the class. But this gracious. Never should have abandoned it. I think it's fun to go with different things. Get a little shine on it. The premise Frank only left me like four options and one of them is this. Oh my goodness gracious. Just always just makes me smile. I'm going to kick it off since we had Susan giving us the oh my goodness gracious call. I'm going to kick it off with a Yankee. And of course it is Cam Schlippler who face the White Socks gave up one earn run over six and a third innings. Eight strikeouts, one walk, two hits. And I know you're thinking hey isn't this segment supposed to be about notable things? And isn't Cam Schlippler having a dominant outing just what we expect at this point? Well wrong friends because this was a different Cam Schlippler and it wasn't a Cam Schlippler. Maybe he listens to the podcast because I teased this the last time we talked about him. And then he went out and did it. He threw a bunch of curve balls. 21 or 19 20% of his pitches were curve balls today. Usually it's about 7% and it was absolutely sick. He had seven whiffs on eight swings for a pitch he typically throws around 8% of the time. He threw it 20% of the time and they couldn't do anything with it. Seven whiffs on eight on eight swings is ridiculous. And that was something I mentioned last time we talked about him where he throws those three fast balls. 91% of the time typically and it's like a 95 mile hour cutter that moves to the glove side and a 98 mile an hour four seamer that rises and a sinker that moves to the arm side and is 97. And it's like good luck and then all of a sudden today he just decides to start throwing this curve ball. And also the curve ball was three miles per hour harder than it typically is but with almost the same movement profile. That is just disgusting. He is sick. That is a sick pitch and it's just another wrinkle for Cam Schletler who has established himself firmly as one of the four or five best pitchers and baseball. And I wanted to highlight this just because one frankly there weren't a ton of no worthy performances on Wednesday despite a 16 game plate but also two. You know, maybe you have a little bit of concern about how sustainable 91% fastballs can be. I know one's a cutter but it's a fastball. But he's got this in his back pocket if he needs it and it's just a pivot that he can go to if things start to go wrong not that I think things are going to go wrong for him but it just gives him another chance. Yeah, when things go wrong and it's just really really I was so impressed by the start from Cam Schletler. Impressed enough to do what I've already done and make him the number two starting picture rest of season. Oh gosh, I don't know. You're not that impressed then Chris. I don't mess with how impressed you are. I'm going to be honest. I don't know if I'm going to have a chance to update my rankings this week. I'm hosting the podcast. I'm still doing my normal newsletter. Well, it's a lot. I'm just trying to get around. I need a nap at some point. But yeah, maybe I mean we've seen. Obviously we have some concerns about Jacob is your outskies. Just the length that we're going to get moving forward Christopher Sanchez has been a little rocky for the past month or so. I can see the case for it. Certainly lucky fourth. There's not a big difference. I think you know what when I when I updated my rankings. At the trade dead are at the all star break. I did like the first two rounds. I did. I think Miss your ask was in the first round and then scubal Sanchez schemes and Schlippler, we're all like back to back. So there's very little. If Miss your ask you has moved back to that pack, I think they're very little separating the top pitchers. So you could absolutely. Absolutely. But did any of those other guys just break out a no curve ball to go along with their 90% fast balls or whatever you said. 90 was up three miles per hour and missed a bunch of none of them have yet, but they could make a good. They could. Yeah, I think they're going to be the A L. S. I. Young. I yeah, just because of how much time Terry scubals missed. Yeah, I think that's I mean who would be second. I don't know. Yeah, it's probably not such a full take for me. I will. I'm just trying to think like. Yeah, I think that's a fair point. Yeah, I think that's probably Schiller at this point. You want to you want to give a player the night. Yeah, sure. I will give Grayson Rodriguez. Okay. Remember that guy. He's back in Pogform. No, he had a good start though. Finally against the Astros. Two earn runs and five innings. Okay, six strikeouts. Okay. 15 swinging strikes on 98 pitches. And that is a lot of swinging strikes for anybody. It's especially a lot for Grayson Rodriguez based on. At least what we've been seeing of him to this point. So he had made nine starts for the angels and had an 8.5 swing. 8.5 percent swing strike rate in them 4.4 walks per nine 92.1 average exit velocity in those nine starts Grayson Rodriguez had an 8.54 year. And a 782 expected ERA, which is somehow even more. I mean, he was, you know, a little bit was underperforming. He was terrible. But he actually looked good in this start. And seven of the whips came on the fastball. Seven came on the change up, which has been a good pitch for all his struggles. He threw it. He threw it about 50 percent more in this start. It had already had a 222 batting average against a 34 percent wave rate. It had been a pretty good pitch. But it was good. The fastball was good. I bring it up for a few different reasons. One is that on his mind to lead rehab assignment before coming back and making these nine awful starts. He actually looked pretty good. He had a 16 percent swing strike rate down there. He had 12.8 K per nine. And the velocity all along, it's been fine. That hasn't been the issue for Grayson Rodriguez. I wonder if there is still life here. If this is the start of the turnaround. Like because other than the fact that the results were awful. If I didn't know the ERA for Grayson Rodriguez, if I didn't know the average ex of velocity. And I knew everything else. I would not automatically conclude, oh, this guy is washed. If you were hidden behind the veil of ignorance on Grayson Rodriguez. And I think back to how things played out for Garrett Cole, where the stuff basically seemed right. But it was not getting whiffs at all. And we just said, yeah, I think it'll be fine. Just give it some time. And we gave it time. And now his last three, four starts. He's looked great again. And maybe Grayson Rodriguez just needs that time too. It's a big maybe. I don't know that you really need to add him anywhere based on this start. But I was, it's the first glimmer of hope since he rejoined the major league roster. And again, looking at the minor league, what he was doing on the rehab assignment. You might have had some reason for hope then. So let's not entirely abandon hope. I agree. That's fair. We've got some deeper league waiver wire pitchers. We're going to talk about a little later. And I'll throw Grayson Rodriguez in there. And we'll see how he compares to Sean Manaya and Eric Lauer and a couple of other pictures in that same roster rate who are finding some success. We'll see how he compares to those guys in a little while. And thank you to Stitch Fix for sponsoring today's players of the night segment. Stitch Fix takes the hassle out of clothes shopping. Just take a quick style quiz. You're a guy's your vibe and your budget and you will be matched with a real human stylist who will send you a fixed box.
with close the fit and make sense for your life. Get started today at stitchfix.com/baseball for $20 off your first order, that stitchfix.com/baseball, we are going to take a quick break. Make sure you like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening. Maybe leave us a nice comment. We always love to see that. Like and subscribe on the YouTube channel. We're trying to get to 40,000 subscribers. That's a nice big round number. We'd love to hit. And we will be right back. (crow cawing) - Okay, welcome back to fantasy baseball today. News and notes on Wednesday, July 30th. Jeff Passon reported that the Tigers are going to trade tariff schoolable. I feel like that's not really a surprise, but a little confirmation there that this is about to happen. He made his last start on Tuesday. Got his thousand strike out with the Tigers. I saw they tweeted a picture of him with just like I think the clapping hands emoji or something and like him doffing his cap to the crown. That felt like the Tigers saying goodbye on the old Twitter. So yeah, he's gonna be someone. Yeah, put your money down. Where's it going? Oh gosh, I mean, what would it say about tariff schoolable if the Dodgers didn't acquire him? Right? Love this bit. Pull back that bit from January, bring it back. Yeah, like the Dodgers have to be the favorite for anybody who's good. I hope so. I mean, they have the most spending power. They have the most trade assets and their farm system is loaded. It's always loaded. Like if they want tariff schoolable, they can have it. Okay, the purers really what does it say about tariff schoolers? The brewers can don't get the brewers can get him to. It's just a question of whether they want to just can out bid the brewers. I don't I don't think that's true. I they like the Dodgers might have a better minor league system. Maybe but like, they're not going to give up everyone. The brewers have a really good minor league system too. And they've got a lot of parts that are don't have anywhere to play. The brewers aren't going to give up everybody either. And the Dodgers just have to give up one more than the brewers. I said, but I'm saying the brewers should give up one more than the Dodgers do. Well, like this is what's the point of like this core that the brewers have built if you're not going to go for it, right? Like the I just you can you can wish. You're dominating the regular season and then you keep falling short in the playoffs. At some point you've got to realize you need the elite white CC Sebastian and give him over the hump who's to say Terrick Scoobal will that doesn't that doesn't mean you should try. I just I can wish cast to I think the Braves are going to get Terrick Scoobal. I think well, yeah, but I'm not a brewers fan. I think the Cubs should go get him. I like I just I would be really I prepare your heart. Chris prepare. I would be really disappointed if the Dodgers got him. I would be I wouldn't even be mad at the Dodgers and it honestly I wouldn't like. Oh, nobody can be with Dodgers because this is just a chance where like the brewers just have to come up with like 10 million dollars. Can anybody come up with is any other organization out there willing to trade a prospect as good as James tips. And he's like the Dodgers fifth best outfield prospect. Like it's ridiculous. I would hope the brewers would be willing to trade, but yes, that's a good point. I I hope it's not that's all I'm going to say. I hope not to I hope the brewers go get him. I hope the Cubs go get help somebody goes and gets Terrick Scoobal. It would just be really boring if the Dodgers get him prepared to be bored. I just I want someone else to try to win things, you know? I guess that's seeing too much. The Dodgers made themselves so powerful that every other team has just been beaten down and lost all their willpower and just just let them just let them take another one. One last thing. All right, we'll move on. Nick Hertz was hit on the left form in the first inning of Wednesday's game and he left the game. Hopefully he's okay. It's a lot of hand and wrist hit by pitches in the last couple of days. Can we cool it? Can we knock it off? Yeah, no more of that. I will see what happens with Kurtz. He was walking off the field. He was in a lot of pain, but then they showed him later in the game and he looked okay. So I don't know. That's that's not an extra way for the MRI. I have no idea. Hopefully conclusive as Redsucks has found out. Big trade or trade. The Rangers acquired Chase Sulceth and Logan O'Hoppy. That would have been a big trade a couple years ago. Well, the Logan O'Hoppy part. Remember when O'Hoppy looked like he might be one of the next great hitting catchers? Not so much. Travis Darnow was activated from the IL to replace O'Hoppy for the Angels. That is extremely boring. So we will move on. Byron Bucksdon was placed on the IL with a right hip and pinchment. That's the second time he has gone on the IL with that injury this season. I would think given that this will be more than a minimum. I would say that's a good thing. Sorry, I don't have a good way of finishing that. I hope you who enter here, if you're not a Dodger, because the inevitable is coming. They're going to have scoople. They're going to have snow ready for the playoffs. All your dreams are dead. And then there's going to be a lockout. So, Brandon Garcia, Juan Moreo, Jonathan LaWazaga, and Kevin Ginkgo. We're all mentioned as potential options, but it was Garcia, who got the save Wednesday, that is Brandon Garcia with a Y. The Y is instead of the O or I guess E sometimes people have an E there. But I've seen I. Yeah, yeah, but it's Brandon with a Y. Yeah. For your search purposes. He got the save Wednesday. He's been very good this season. 35 strikeouts to seven walks and 29 endings. He has never
I've really been good before, but it's been very impressive so far this season and there's a chance he could take the job and run with it. I will mention, I think, for the third straight episode, I think it could be Justin Martinez when he's cleared to pitch, but he hasn't started to rehab assignment yet. So not sure if that's a couple of weeks or more like a September thing, but Justin Martinez, just a name to keep in the back of your mind, but if you're chasing saves right now, branding Garcia is the way to go. Vladimir Guerrero was not in the lineup Wednesday after leaving with a hamstring injury on Tuesday, but he was available to pinch hit. Kaus Schwarber was not in the lineup Wednesday as he deals with a tummy issue. And I did see, I think it was one of the athletic writers said that there's no guarantee he'll be back by Friday. So that's a little concerning. Jake Irvin will be activated from the aisle to start Thursday against the Braves. He's been out nearly two months with a shoulder strain Trevor Williams was activated off the IEL for the Nationals after recovering from internal brace surgery. The Padres promoted Ethan Salas to Triple A. He hit 285 with seven homers and 14 steals in 71 games at AA. You think there's any chance we see him in the majors before the end of the season? - So I haven't looked up the recent. He started very hot this year and then he went very cold. If he's getting promoted to Triple A, I'm guessing Ethan Salas is heated up again. - I know the defense has been really good from the boys I've read. - Yeah, he's had a hot July. 156 batting average in June 321 in July. His, it's been a ride. - I mean, he's still one of the youngest players of AA, right? - Yeah. So he got to AA as what an 18 year old. - I think so, yeah. - Yeah, and everybody put him in the top 10 overall prospects and then he was hurt and not very good that the couple years thereafter. And so he dropped off of top 100 less completely and now Ethan Salas is back in Pogform. - What is that? - That is a Simpsons reference. - Oh, okay. - Yeah, Mill House had Alf Pogs and remember Alf, he's back in Pogform. - I don't know. - Yeah. What percentage of the audience do you think is old enough to remember Pogs? - Pogs. - Because that's like a pretty, like that one, I remember like first or second grade is about when I remember Pogs being a thing. But anyone three years younger than me I think has no recollection of Pogs. - I think our core audience is, is millennials, older millennials. It's basically just me. That's how I like to think. - That's what you are. - Probably not the audience watching us live at 120 AM. I think they're younger. - Probably the youngins. - Okay. - Yeah, excuse younger. - I would say you are the specific median FBT listener. - How could I not be? - Okay. - I mean, came of age during both the fantasy sports online era and the podcast era. - All right, well. - The perfect intersection. - I think I've given analysis on one player today. - Chris and Rodriguez. - I've just been here making silly comments. - Yeah. Kyle Kero says, "Miss the past two games." But we're about to get to a talk. - Okay. - I'm gonna stop talking soon. Kyle Kero says, "Miss the past two games with biceps inflammation. Jake Bowers was back in line up Wednesday. He's trying to keep playing through that fractured big toe. Justin Steele will throw a light bullpen session this weekend. He continues to work his way back from internal brace procedure and then a setback from that. Ben Brown has been throwing regularly, but Craig Council said quote, "He's kind of a pre-spring training pitcher. Bullpen's are a ways away." So it doesn't sound like Ben Brown is anywhere close. And then the angels release Salach Manoa, end of an era. - Yeah. - Yeah, like a nine year A and triple A I think. - Man, what I mean are at one day. - One day. - I mean, the top three say young finish. That's a hack of a one year wonder. - On the subject of one year wonders, I had this thought the other day. I was looking at a graphic online. The last 20 game winner in the majors was Spencer Strider in 2023. And like he wasn't a one year wonder, he was at worst a two year wonder. And maybe not done yet. Let's not write him off. The year before 2022, there was a 20 game winner. By the name. - 22. - By the name of Kyle Wright. - Yeah. - You want to remember that game? - I remember that game. - Also for the break. - I know. - He's with the royals I think, now. - If that Spencer Strider season hadn't happened. 'Cause I'm kind of wondering, like will we ever see a 20 game winner again? What if Kyle Wright went down in history as the last 20 game winner? How wild? What kind of trivia answer would that be? - He was on the royals last year. He is not on a team now, Kyle Wright. - It's a bizarre hypothetical. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I spent time on that. Let's get into real analysis. - All right, let's do some word association from Wednesday's start. So I'm gonna throw eight pitchers at you, all of whom who pitched Wednesday, all of whom who pitched Wednesday. Doing real good talking today. Eight pitchers who pitched Wednesday, you're gonna tell me the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear this pitchers name. The first one, Ed Warrant-O-Rudriga is, he just keeps getting away with it. Eight innings, five hits, zero earned runs, one walk, two strikeouts in eight innings against the third best lineup in baseball by Woba. What's the word? Fred Warrant-O-Rudriga is. I can't say the word I'm thinking. - Thoney. That's a good one. That's a very good word you would think. - Yeah, no. He has a 250 ERA and a 499 XERA and a 486 CERA and a 410 fit among 26 pitchers with a 350 ERA or better. He is 18th in walk rate. He is 25th in strikeout rate. He is 26th in XERA. He is 24th in fit. By all the ways we typically measure pitchers except for ERA and Warrant-O-Rudriga is really bad. And by ERA, he is what, the fourth best pitcher in baseball. There's nothing left to say. It's gonna end in tears. It's just a question of whether he gets to the end before it happens and then next year, he's a five ERA pitcher or if his next start is seven runs in three innings and he's just useless from that point on, all I will say, I don't wanna be there when it goes wrong. I will, if you have ERA on your roster, that means you haven't been listening to me all along and that's fine. I can deal with that. But I will say the first sign of trouble, cut. Cut. I think it's gonna be really bad when it goes bad. - Well, I mean, it looked like two starts ago that was happened. And he's turned around and given us two of his best starts of the year. So I don't know that I can get on board with that specific advice. I think the broader take of how this is going to end for Eduardo Rodriguez is correct. And it's just a matter of win. And that Martin Perez season, what was it, 2021? Where he had like 289 ERA. - Yeah, I was see of 450 ERAs. - Yeah. - That's what this feels like for Eduardo Rodriguez. And I looked, I saw today, okay, yeah, not just eight shed out and he's like, he got 15 whiffs. That's, that's a good number. 15 whiffs, we're not used to seeing that from Eduardo Rodriguez. Seven on the change up, which was down 1.2 miles per hour. I don't know, the movement didn't really change that much, but maybe creating more velocity separation. There's something there. And I was trying to make this case for why, okay, maybe things are gonna go different. He had two strikeouts in eight innings. It's like, and the Diamondbacks have a pretty good defense, but they, I believe their team, they're overperforming their FIP by about 0.25 runs, which is like the eighth best mark in baseball. And that has to mostly be Eduardo Rodriguez. - Yeah. - I just, I don't know, I am, I don't like to look stupid, but I'm not afraid to look stupid. And so I'm just gonna keep banging the Eduardo Rodriguez is not that good, Jerome. - Yeah. - And if I, if I can't, you can't be on a podcast if you're afraid to look stupid, by the way, it's gonna happen a lot. Let's move on to Joe Ryan, six innings, eight hits, four in runs, zero walks, four strikeouts. I mean, it's an improvement, but what's the first thing that comes to your head when I say Joe Ryan right now? - Man, this is our exercise than I thought. - What is the first word that comes to mind when you say Joe Ryan, I am going to go with it. It's supposed to be like a-
free association. Scott's just the first thing that comes to your mind. I couldn't think of a single word. How about W-H-E-W? You. Because he gave up six home runs last time. And even though the start wasn't good, it wasn't. It wasn't. It just gave up one home run. So like, I'd be, I might be spiraling if he gave a three or four home runs. Is that an okay word? I guess that's how I felt about this start. I wanted it to be better. But then I remember he gave up six home runs last time. Is fewer words like an onomatopoeia? Well, onomatopoeia is a word. That's a word. This is a particular kind of word. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I am mostly not too concerned about Joe Ryan. I think this is just kind of something that happens for him. Every, I feel like every year there's probably a stretch like this. Yes. He is home run prone. And I don't think that's ever going to change. And that's why, man, this goes back to conversations we were having in December when the first ADP data came out. And I'm like, why is Joe Ryan so I? And you guys were like, why do you think he should be lower? And I'm like, because look, he's never going to be better than a 350 ERA. Yeah. Let's see. Give's up. But good. A lot of strikeouts. Good whip. Yeah. He's pretty good. I was pretty good. The ERA is a little high. That's fine. Another guy who's the R.A. is just a little high. Hey, this is Lazardo. This one I will say was done mad at least fault. And it's been an issue for the Phillies lately. He just keeps leaving his starters out there way too long. And in this one, Hazel's Lazardo came out. He had allowed I think three runs in the first six innings. Came out for the seventh gave up three more runs. A couple of me think it was two, three run innings. He had a quality start through six. What's your word for Hazel's Lazardo? I know it doesn't describe this start. But I think Hazel's Lazardo is awesome. This was an exception. Obviously every pitcher is going to have exceptions. But let's not miss the fours for the trees here. Previous eight starts for Hazel's Lazardo. A 146 ERA, a 0.93 whip, and 13.1 K per nine. That was the previous eight starts for Hazel's Lazardo. And I think, you know, I was talking about him going on a run like that before he did because he does everything well. The worst thing I could say about Eduardo Rodriguez is he should have a better defense behind him. Hazel's Lazardo. Yeah. Yeah. I think he's great. I think he's awesome. That's what we mean. The one thing I would just say is don't take it personally. It might be you missing the fours for the trees. Excuse me? Because the forest is the 357 ERA now, the 399 ERA, last 392 ERA last season. Oh, but we know that ERA was corrupted by pitch tipping. Come on. But that's I think he has a 285 XER. Yeah. I mean, he's really good. Even after this start, a 305 whip, I think he's really good. The only problem is the defense lets him. I will. I will just say. I will just say. I think that the idiom, the exception that proves the rule is kind of a silly thing to say. I do think Hazel's Lazardo, like the exception, right? Like, oh, two Wednesdays starts the exception. You have like four or five exceptions every year. Well, that's true for everybody. Yeah, but he is like he has a career 357 ERA and a 407 ERA. He took a leap last year. That was kind of obscured by the two starts where he was tipping his pitches. And he's built on that leap this year. And he's been awesome. He's been awesome. All right. He has 331 ERA coming. I think there's a distinction between how you're talking about Hazel's Lazardo and how you talked about Joe Ryan. And I kind of think they're the same guy. I think they're both really good pitchers. And the ERA is just not going to be quite as good as they act. Well, there are two big differences. Well, there's one big, big difference. Hazel's Lazardo is a ground ball pitcher and Joe Ryan's a fly ball pitcher. Sure. So Lazardo is not susceptible to home runs and the way Ryan is. And that's the main thing that inflates an ERA. Yeah, I just I think the ERA is always going to be a little higher than than you want it to be. What's the Philly's defense behind him maybe? What is your word for Treya Savage who went six and two thirds, three hits, one on run, three walks, four strikeouts. It's just weird. Weird is my word. Tantalizing maybe is the word that comes to mind. Like I know it's there for you, Savage. But I don't know. I've been I've been making the same point with them for a while now. Like you beat themself with all these walks. And you know, it's not even a start like this. He had it was a quality start. It was a net positive for fantasy, I would say. And that was with three walks and six and a third hitting. So it was a bad start in terms of control. And it still ended up being a net positive fantasy. So I'm not even so much putting it on this star for Treya Savage. It's the starts where he randomly comes up with five, six or seven walks that are really frustrating. You know, now he is he's been on a pretty good run here. The outings have tended to be short or the walks have tended to be high or it's been 15 runs and six innings rather than two runs and six innings, which makes a big difference. Like you look at the game log, you're like, oh, quality start pretty good. But obviously that's a difference between a 450 ER and a three ERA. And so four 80 ERA since the start of June now. Yeah. So like the game log looks better than the numbers, which I don't know that happens sometimes. But I think there's a lot to like about you Savage. He has really two really good secondary offerings. He relied on the slider more than this one when you're usually it's the splitter. I think the main thing is he just needs to curtail the walks and he's going to take off. What is your word for Trevor Rogers? Six innings, eight hits, four earn runs of seven runs. So the defense wasn't great behind him. Zero walks, six strikeouts. Velocity was down a little bit, but nothing too concerning. He just kind of gave up a lot of hard contact. But I don't know, what's your word? Because my word would be the word, but you get what I mean, right? Yeah. Well, I kind of just wanted to make a noise for all of these guys. What is your noise? I kind of danger. Yeah. That's what I think about when I see Trevor Rogers right now. I mean, it's explicable. Yeah, but I'm trying to just, you know, I'm just trying to have a knee jerk reaction and not think of the best word, just the word like danger. It's like he deserves to be started with the way he's performed recently, but to 21 ARS in June 1st, I'm just waiting for that other shoe to drop because it seems like he walks a very fine line between good and terrible. I mean, as whole career track record shows that, you know, and obviously contained within the season. That's been the case. And when it flips, when he goes from bad to good, you're like, okay, well, what's really changed here other than the performance? Something has, but it's so small and hard difficult to perceive that it it it it it's hard to feel like it has staying power that it's durable, you know. I agree. We are going to take one more quick break and then we'll be right back with a few more word association players on fantasy baseball today. All right, let's place more word association on fantasy baseball today. And we've got Joey Cantillo up next for annings eight strikeouts one walk 89 pitches. How do you throw 89 pitches and four innings and walk one? That's wild and wacky stuff continues to leave with the curve ball had eight of his 14 whiffs with that pitch. What's your word for Joey Cantillo? It might just be curve ball. It's I'm thinking inefficient. Yeah. So yes, it's been now a stretch of nine starts that he's led with his curveball. Technically, one, he threw more changeups in curve ball, but the point is it's not the fastball. I have it eight where he's thrown the curve ball at least
34% of the time he hadn't done that any start before that. So in those nine starts, he has a 289 euro, he has 11.8 Kper 9, and T Joey Cantillo has 1.37 whip, which is-- - He's got six innings once, I think? - Twice. - Okay, twice. - 'Cause once was eight innings and then once was six innings, but it's been now six starts since he went more than five innings. So that's inefficient. You got high whip like that, you got short outings. It's-- There's some good there. I see the good in Joey Cantillo, but I don't know that it's worth it, you know? Obviously, deep enough, league it is, but for the typical fantasy player. - Yeah, I think he's worth having around, but yeah, I wish he was better. And that's also what I wish about the next two guys, McKenzie Gore, seven innings, three hits, three earned runs, zero walks, nine strikeouts. He gave up three runs in the first inning and was just lights out after that. What's the word for McKenzie Gore? - Charizard. - Yeah, obviously. What's been crazy about this recent stretch for Gore, is that he's done the thing that we always hope you would do, which is limit the walks. The last time he had more than two walks in a start was June 10th. Zero walks in this start. I mean, obviously it was a good start, but for all of that time with last time having more than two walks to your intent, a 5.50, 70 hour, right? That's including this start. - We got a 5.50, 70 hour, a 112 whip. So like clearly-- - Somehow fixed to big issue. - Having an impact, but still a 5.50, 70 hour, a 10.5, paper, nine, okay, he's never had trouble getting strikeouts. It just is all the more baffling, 'cause okay, he's throwing strikes now and it's still not working with the exception of the start at Tampa Bay. - There's a part of me that thinks maybe he's a by-low candidate, but I don't know if I have the. - Yes, you haven't been burned by the Charizard. - Oh, I definitely have been. I haven't as a part of the season. - Ash wants to catch him all. This is one you release, okay? - Yeah, yeah. - All right, and last one, Jared Jones, six innings, four hits, three on runs, a quality start, two walks, five strikeouts, still only 77 pitches though. Even though he was pitching really well through six innings, it's just. I don't know, man, it's just, is it gonna happen? It's an answer, a question we can't answer. And that's the frustrating thing. - It is a question we can't answer, but. I was writing an article earlier today, when I break out every now and again, circle of trust for starting pitchers. You know, just. - There's a new one coming out, so. - There is a new. I saw the Odyssey, so I saw the trailer for the new Meet the Parents movie, and it referred to the Circle of Trust. So maybe it was top of my, I don't, Ariana Grande's in it, along with the usual suspects. - She's very funny. - I think she's a real. I would love to see her in like a classic sitcom. I think she's got really good comedic timing. I'm a fan. - But like the. And maybe they're gonna play it differently, but you know, the original Meet the Parents, Ben Stiller was the butt of the joke. It's hard to see Ariana being the butt of the joke. - Oh no, he's still the butt of the joke. - Yeah. - I think very clearly. I think she's like the Robert, I've always said Ariana Grande is like the Robert De Niro of Ariana Grande's stuff. - Of course. Anyway, anyway, circle of trust, I have Jared Jones in the Circle of Trust. - In the Circle of Trust. Now I don't trust the pirates necessarily to give him the length, but this is now for. This start I guess three in runs in six innings is hard to be say, really good. But three of the last four have been six innings and four starts in a row. Like you'd be happy to have that in your lineup. - Yeah. - And the strikeouts have been great. The strike out to Walker ratio is like four to one. Swinging strike rate is good. Three pitches with a strong wiff rate in fastball and both of the secondaries for Jared Jones. Actually, he's really just leaned on two pitches during that four-star stretch. - Yeah, fastball inside are really good. - Yeah, he's kind of done away with the other two and it's worked. And yeah, so three of the last four have been six innings. That's obviously as much as you can expect for any non-ace, but because the pitch count has been low, it's like, can he be that efficient with enough regularity to go six innings? Or should the pirates just let him throw more pitches? - I mean, I hope so. I feel like at some point they have to let him so that he can grow into more of who he's destined to be. But it hasn't happened yet. Maybe because he's been so efficient, you know? - All right. - I trust him. I trust you, Jared Jones. - Trust is the word. All right, let's move on to Wavrewire pitchers. And it's a little late in the show to be getting to Wavrewire. I think that kind of tells you the crop that we're dealing with today. I do think there is one really interesting pitcher among the Wavrewire pitchers, and that's Christian Scott, who went six innings for the first time, five hits, one in run, one walks, seven strikeouts, he threw 98 pitches in this one. And I think that's a really great sign. The problem is, and I noticed this after I started getting excited about Christian Scott after this start is, he's up to 83 innings on the season. He obviously didn't pitch at all last season, as we were returning from Tommy John's surgery. And his career high in innings 89.2 back in 2024. I just, I don't know how many more starts we're gonna get from Christian Scott. - No. - Which is frustrating because it kinda looks like he's blossoming. I mean, he's 299 ERA, 85 strikeouts and 69 in a third innings. The control's been iffy at times, but I think he's, he might be really good, but I just don't know how much value there actually is left. Are they gonna let him go to 100 innings? I mean, that's only 17 innings away. This is the tough thing about Christian Scott. - Yeah, I believe he was in that article I wrote last week about pictures with innings concerns. He was high risk level, career high 89 to 2/3 and he didn't pitch at all last year. Would 130 be too big of a stretch? - There's no way. I mean, he's never gotten to 100 before and he didn't pitch at all last season. - Right. But at some point, like if you don't let him go, if you don't let him go 100 this year or how many year you think it? - 110. - If you make it the limit to low this year, then you're also stuck with the low next year. It becomes this carryover effect. And at some point, I mean, he's 27 years old. He's just got to get what you can out of Christ Scott. So I don't know, like this is the first time, I believe the first time he's got six innings? - Yep. And so like he's kind of limited his own innings in that way, but here's the thing, it's the opposite situation for Jared Jones. The main reason Scott has is only now gone six innings, isn't because the meds were limiting his. Pitch counts, they throw more than 90 several times, is because he's been inefficient. - Yep. - But now last four starts, 170, 70, R8.98 whip, 11.1, Kper 9. So got with a high fly ball rate, but a low average exit velocity. So that's a good combination. Decent Whiff rate walks too many guys, that's where the efficiency comes in. Yeah, I think it's fair to wonder how much they're going to limit him moving forward, but I don't think, it feels a little more like September's problem than August. - Yeah, I don't, I think it's probably, he doesn't pitch in September, is what my guess would be if I had to make one. All right, let's move on to Ian Seymour, who this one was kind of frustrating. I feel like it might have just been a game flow thing 'cause he pitched after an opener, was pitching well, four and two thirds innings, No one runs, one walk, four strikeouts, only 71 pitches, and they pulled him. And I believe it was because the opener had gone, let me make sure I have that correct. I think the opener went one and two thirds innings, Seymour went four and two thirds. Maybe he could have finished that last inning, but they were gonna go to their high leverage guys, I think is what I'm trying to say. And yeah, that is the one frustration when you have, a guy pitching behind an opener is, if they wanna get to the closer and set up man, there might be a cap, but, and Ian Seymour's good, he usually hasn't been limited this way. I mean, there have been a handful of 90 pitch starts, he went six innings his previous start, when he hasn't gone deep into games because he hasn't pitched well. So I think this is mostly a one off.
But he's not a perfect pitcher. I like Ian Seymour. I think he should continue to roster him. I also wrote about him regarding the circle of trust. I can't put him in the circle of trust. I think that might be a head to head versus row. Well, I'm not sure he's the race. That's very strong. Is the problem. That's fair. That's fair. Because again, I think he's good. I were hesitant to put him in the rotation in the first place. Then at the first signs of trouble, I guess the second sign of trouble, because he had back-to-back shaky starts. The second sign of trouble, they made him follow an opener. They've done it out to outings in a row. We see the complications that presents by him going only four and two-thirds when he was pitching well. I think he's going to be as good as he is. I think he's going to be susceptible to these blow-up starts because he's homerprone. I see relies more on deception than stuff. There are times when it's just going to all blow up on him. I'm not confident the rays are going to stick with. They've already shown that they'll flake. That's why Ian Seymour is not in the circle. You need to still need to roster him. Circle of trust. It's concentric circles. Somebody could be in the circle of trust and rank lower than somebody who's not in the circle of trust. That's a real. That's a real. It's not like there's this line in the rankings where everybody above is in the circle of trust that everybody below is out. Regardless of who this person is facing, regardless of how his last start went, do I feel confident putting him in my lineup? I can't say that Seymour is in that. I do think that's fair. I'm sure John's is, though. That is fair. John, we got one more, Dustin May, 60% rostered. He went five innings. It was only like 68 pitches or something. It was first good pitch. Our two good starts in a row after a really rough stretch. He went five innings, three strikeouts, two ox. It's kind of typical for him. I did see some like hug watch talk about Dustin May. For those of you who aren't familiar this time of year, guys in the dugout will get hugs sometimes because they're leaving the team. I didn't know what you meant, but that makes sense. I noticed that would not be surprised at all if this was Dustin May's last start with Cardinals. That would not probably be a good thing for Dustin May's value. Right? It depends. It depends where he goes. Sure. But the Cardinals have a really good defense and he does not strike a lot of guys out. He needs to defend behind him. That's true. He is very defense reliant. You want to see him go into fillies, for instance? No. It's really frustrating. I think they've over expanded the playoffs because the Cardinals can decide to be in or out. Yeah. And I think among the teams in that position, they're in a better spot than some of them. Better spot than the twins, probably better spot than the nationals. I think they're below 500 for the first time all season. No. I think they just got back to 500. Okay. Yesterday they got below 500 for the first time. So there was really a lot of men attending free agents. So like if they decide they're out, yeah, they should trade them. Should they decide they're out? And that's what they're to me looking at it. There are only nine teams that are definitively out across the whole league and are recounting the Marlins. We are not because there are only two games back in the wild, Garberies. Yeah. One, three, and a row. It's just swept the fillies somehow. Yeah. So like there's that aspect and then there's what happened a couple of years ago with the diamond back, some sorry diamond backs fans. You get this basically 500 team in the playoffs and then they just happen to go on a run and there. Even though nobody thought they were good for the entire regular season, they wind up in the World Series. And that's me. Hey, it's frustrating. What was that year the Cardinals did that and won? Well, at least they won their division, right? That was 2006, I believe. 2007, technically they won their division. Sure. Yeah. So like for most of the season, people were like, yeah, the Cardinals are a playoff team. People weren't doing that with the diamond backs that year. They were just like, yeah, diamond backs, whatever. And then they're in the World Series representing the entire national league. I don't like it. I like it. Well, let's move on. There are some other lower end pitchers who I think are kind of interesting. Well, some of them are interesting. Some of them are not. Sean Menaya. I think he's on the not all that interesting side. So he does have a 375 ERA since the start of June 50 strikeouts and 57 to 2/3 innings. He allowed two on runs in six innings against the Braves today. 27% roster. We've got Eric Lauer for the Dodgers who gave up one hit over six shut out innings. He has a 298 ERA since joining the Dodgers. Only 30 strikeouts and 51 and 2/3 innings. He's got the Cubs next week. Hey, just miss Shauver. It wasn't a terrible start. It wasn't a great one either. The velocity was up. He only had two whiffs on 69 pitches. There's something here, but he didn't exactly hit the ground running. He's 36% rostered. Jacob. Now he's back in the minors. Oh, he got said, OK, I didn't even see you got sent back to him. OK, well, then I guess we're not going to have any back. He's going to show up. He'll be back. It's just one of those annoying maximized. Yeah, there are a couple of pitching spots you have kind of moves. They're really churning through like three out of their five or six rotation spots, aren't they? We also at Jacob Lopez. Remember, he was really good for a really long time last year for like two and a half months. Jacob Lopez had like a sub three ERA. And then he heard his elbow, but he was good on Wednesday. One and run over five in a third innings against the red socks, eight strikeouts, two walks. I think there's something there. That's probably need more than one start, but it was interesting. And then Randy Dobnak was a good start. Seven shuttings. I think there's absolutely nothing here. A lot of hard contact. He's getting a ball guy. Three earned runs and 26 innings over five starts, but also 14 walks to 10, 14 strikeouts to 10 walks. I don't really think there's much there. So let's rank for adding purposes. Shamanaya, Eric Lauer and Jacob Lopez. If you want to throw AJ Smith, Shover in there, you can. I think Smith Shover, who I'd want the most of that group. I think long term. It's been a good three starts in a row for Jacob Lopez. Short starts, the walks have kind of up in high, but he's prevented runs from scoring and he's gotten a healthy number of strikeouts. So I'm not particularly moved to add him because they're not the most usable starts. And even a triple A this year, the four starts to be there. Seven, twenty year A. So I remain curious because I liked him a lot coming into the year because of how I performed in the majors last year. But he's at Cincinnati has next start. Although it could be a two-star week at Cincinnati at Boston. Those are not great places to pitch. Yeah, you kind of have that matchups though. I there's not enough for me to actually use Jacob Lopez. Sean Manaya, he's a pitcher I've liked a lot in the past two and he has been on a more useful run here than Lopez with three quality starts in his past for three forty two ERA during that stretch, but also just seven point six, taper nine and ten point five percent when you strike right. It does seem like a candidate to get traded and could be in a more competitive environment. Yeah, maybe, but I just don't I don't think he's that good at this point. I'll allow our pitches for the Dodgers and tends to go six innings with some frequencies. So he's probably the most usable of these, but I would not stop. I would not start about that. I would not start about the Cubs next week. Yeah, I wouldn't want to either. Yeah. All right, let's move on to some waiver wire hitters. Elliott Ramos, four for five with three RBI, a walk and a steal. He really needed that one. He was hitting 174 with one extra base hit since the all start break before this. Erie Berger, Hernandez, keep talking about him because he keeps hitting the home run again. I think he's good. There, I guess there might be some concern with Owen Casey working his way back that Hernandez could go back to being a platoon guy. I don't think they should. He's a three four EX well against Rides. I think they're going to find a way to keep him in line with how good he's been. I mean, what is the deal with Griffin Kona. He hit a game winning home run today. He's really good against good. Well, no, sorry. He can hit Rides. He's got like a 900 OPS in limited time. So they're probably they're probably not going to want to pull the plug on him. Uh, Marys. I have too many hitters. We've always said this. Can anyone else play center? Cause I, I don't think Jacob Marcy experiment is run its course. Yeah, they've already started benching against lefties, but I don't think any of the other guys are capable of playing full time. S.R.A.R.R.E.S. has been really good lately too. A little, uh, a little preview here for the prospects, mini pod. Um, if you're wanting to target the Marlins center fielder of the future, maybe as soon as next year. Guy named Cam.
>> Canarella. >> Oh. >> As searched through the system, reached triple A, batting about 350 power speed, good on base skills. Great center field. >> Sounds like Jacob Marcy. >> Well, Jacob Marcy wasn't hitting 350 in the minors. Come on, he was barely hitting 250. >> That's fair. >> All right, let's move on. Yiner Diaz had went for five with a Homer two runs to RBI, three hard hit balls. He really hasn't done much recently. His last Homer was when he had won in consecutive games on July 4th and 6th. July 6th was also his last multi hit game. I still think he could be good, but it's been a long time since he actually has been so need to see more from Yiner Diaz, Daniel Susek had two homers today. Those were his first two career homers. One was off a position player. I think we can be on Kalman Zardo, Homerd for the first for the second time in as many days. He had two homers in his previous 35 days. So we'll say he's picking up the pace. Spencer Jones went to for four with a Homer and obviously two strikeouts. He has a 697 OPS and a 39.8% strikeout rate. The waiver wire options today were not great is the point I'm trying to make here. So we'll move on to some pitching leftovers. Terrick Schoolable. Not his best start. I think they left him out for the seventh inning, one inning too long, but his pitch count was like in the 60s. I think when they brought him back out. He give up the round runs the 62 thirds inning, six strikeouts, one walk, probably his last start with the Tigers will see where Terrick Schoolable makes his next start, not in Los Angeles. I think the Dodgers are on the road next week. Matthew Boyd. He just continues to get it done seven innings shut out against the Cardinals, two walks, five strikeouts, only five whiffs, but also only 79 mile per hour average, ex of velocity, four hard hit balls out of 20 total. He finished July with a 167 ERA and his season mostly looks like a carbon copy of last season, except he missed time this year. That's basically the only distinction. And then Davis Martin is still like 83% roster. That is way too high. He has a 596 ERA since the start of June. You can go ahead and drop him. He has two quality starts in his past 10. Thanks for the two good months, Davis Martin. Hopefully he didn't undo all of that good for your team. Since then, some hitter leftovers, Gabrielle Moreno hit his second homeers since June 15th. It's really the only thing holding him back. He went three for five in this one quality of contact is still solid. Could be in for, you know, a big final two months. Evon Herrera went three for five with a couple of doubles, including the walkoff in the tent. That was a really fun game. It was scoreless after nine innings and P. Kerr Armstrong had a huge home run. Then the car nose came back. That was very fun. And then Salvador Perez had to run. I just thought this was funny. Salvador Perez had his first triple since 2022. He had no triple since 2018 before that. Salvador Perez has two triples in like the last nine seasons. That is very funny. Triples are hard. I mean, that's like any time anyone's like, Oh, he was a triple short of the cycle. No, he wasn't that's that's never happened. Yeah, like that's that's like even Corbin Carroll, who like is the reigning master of triples. It gets like what 15 triples a season, like one every 10 days. It's like a two percent of his plate appearances ended triples. You're never a triple short of the cycle. That's not a thing. That's that's my little right. I didn't know Corbin Carroll was. Yeah, it hasn't led to Lee and triple three years and a row. The triples. Yeah. Yeah, I'm looking at the page. But I just didn't know that. Yeah, I know things occasionally. Let's go to the call to the bullpen. Andrew Kitchert. You got the save in the 12th inning of a one run win over the Tigers. I think he threw four pitches for one out. It is his third save in the month of July, which is weird because as you mentioned yesterday, Tyler Wells has been pretty much used as the closure lately. And he did work the 9th and 10th innings of a one run game or a tie game this in this one. So yeah, I think Tyler Wells is more or less the closer and we've just it's not going to be all the time. Grant Taylor worked the 9th 10th and part of the 11th with the game tied for the white socks Jordan Hicks eventually got the win. The Cubs called on Trent Thornton in the 10th inning with a two run lead. He gave up two runs on two walks hits and a walk to blow the save. He had been part of the Cubs Closer committee. Three different pitchers have a save since his last one. I just don't think they have a closer until Daniel Pilency gets back unless they make a trade which they very well. Trade for Luke Weaver, trade for Mason Miller. Of course, what does it say about Mason Miller? If the Dodgers don't get Mason Miller. That's a fair point. Everybody's asking. Brian Abray, you got a four out save. That's just just Josh Hader worked the previous two days and four of the previous five. So I don't think there's anything to take away from that. Let's go to the stream or not to stream for Thursday. We've got Noah Cameron at the twins Bailey Ober against the Royals Andre Pellante versus the Cubs or mom Marquez versus the Giants, Rocky Saki versus the Mariners. Jake Irvin at Atlanta and have your Assad at St. Louis. It's not a particularly good crop. I mean, how do you feel about rolling the dice on Sasaki? It could be very, very good. I'm starting him in one league. If you have to pick one from today, I think he's the clear choice. But that's not you feel lucky. But yeah, I wouldn't take that as an endorsement of the idea of starting him retweets are not endorsements. Let's move on to Friday. We'll warn at the Cubs Brandon Young versus the Phillies, Kalei versus the Blue Jays, Chanson, Junk at the Metz, Bryce Elder versus the Nationals, Toma Yuki Sagano versus the Royals, Shane Drowin at the Angels, Carson, Wizen Hunt at the Padres and Zembey Matthews at the Mariners. Not a ton of great options here either. Shane Drowin, I like at the Angels, very strike out prone lineup still. How much has the Dodgers lineup improved because I'm sorry, the Phillies lineup improved? Yeah, Stots been really good lately, but Marsh has been bad. They have, you know, I think a lot of it depends on if Kals Schwarbers back. Yes, kind of middle bit range lineup. Like Brandon Young's been reliable lately. I think he's okay against the Phillies. But definitely Matthews and Mariners is at Seattle. I think is an interesting one. Obviously a lot of risk though. Yeah, all right. Is that it? That's it. That's it. We did it. We are done with today's show. That's going to do it for Fantasy Baseball today. We will, we will be back tomorrow with more Fantasy Baseball today. Bye. That is so a fix. Just stream it for free on Pluto TV. Stream now. Pay never.
PodcastTranscript AI